I’ve gone over my body a hundred times, checking each part again and again. Is that a stray hair? Shave again. Is that a scab? Soak it again. CHATZITZAH!

No barriers. No boundaries. Nothing except you and the water. That’s how it should be.

Wait, did I clean out my ear with a q-tip? Wait, did I trim that teeny tiny hangnail? Wait, do I need to use the bathroom for the fifth time?

Some women obsessively check themselves because they anxiously want to do it right. I do it because I hope I find a reason not to immerse tonight.

No barriers. No boundaries.

But my marriage is fully of barriers and boundaries. I’m alone and lost. I can’t handle this night. I know after I dip in the warm water, I will return to my own version of Gehenom. I will return to a husband who won’t be intimate with me, doesn’t love me, doesn’t want me. I will return to all my problems, plus new ones. Now, we will share a bed (no barriers) and he will brush against me when I don’t want it (no boundaries). There will be nothing but him and me. And my barriers that I cannot drop.

So, when I take a little longer to prepare, don’t be surprised. When you wish me a goodnight afterwards and I don’t reply, it’s because my throat is too tight. It will not be a good night. It will be lonely and sad. Because while some women go home from the mikvah excited to reunite with their love, I will be going home counting down the days until I will be niddah again.

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8 Comments

Deborah
June 7, 2017 at 9:52 am

Oh my dear. I am so sorry. If there is no way this marriage will be a good one, can you find the wherewithal to move on? Everyone deserves to find a truly loving marriage with a partner who loves them.

My dear,
Today’s time has a distinct characteristic that is only applicable to this time. It’s the so-called Zeit Geist – the Spirit of Time. And this characteristic is THE FREEDOM OF CHOICE. Today, unlike during any time in history, we can and MUST learn to exercise our choices. We must KNOW that we CAN. We must HEAR it from others. We are not victims of the doings of others. We can say NO and create boundaries and separation. We CAN be with the person we want to be. We are NOT slaves. We are FREE people, and EACH one of us is unique and HAS the responsibility to SHINE its brightest. Ask HASHEM to grant you the STRENGTH and COURAGE to SHINE!